According to a Multnomah County 2023 report, homelessness among older adults has increased 15% over a two-year period — and this number has only been growing.
Humans for Housing, a Portland-based nonprofit, is one of many advocacy groups educating people on housing issues like homelessness among older adults. One way they have accomplished this is by producing “No Place to Grow Old,” a documentary that follows three older adults, Bronwyn Carver, Herbert Olive and Jerry Vermillion, as they navigate their lives without housing in Portland.
On April 3, the Garaventa Center and the Moreau Center for Service and Justice will be hosting a screening of “No Place to Grow Old” in the Brian Doyle Auditorium from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. There will be a Q&A with the director of the film, Davey Schaupp, and the founder of Humans for Housing, Michael Larson, following the screening. The screening is free and open to all members of the UP community and the general public.
For Schaupp, learning about the increasing number of older adults experiencing homelessness came as a surprise. However, this fact inspired him and his team to make the film. Their goal is to not only educate others about the rise of older adults experiencing homelessness but also humanize the people in that demographic.
“[The statistic] really kind of caught me off balance because that wasn't the stereotype I had in my mind for someone that was houseless,” Schaupp said. “[We then thought], ‘Okay, how do we create a film that can be a tool to recenter these conversations on the humanity of the people who are actually experiencing this crisis?’ [and] we felt like it'd be really interesting to focus on the stories of seniors.”
Co-director of the Garaventa Center Shannon Mayer attended a screening of the film in January and felt impacted by how the film discussed homelessness. She hopes that for students, the film humanizes people experiencing homelessness and connects those interested in advocacy work to Humans for Housing.
“I thought it'd be a great opportunity to both showcase [Larson’s and Schaupp’s] work and bring attention to the housing crisis that I think we all have concerns about and want to think, ‘Are there ways to strategically be engaged with that issue here in our city?’” Mayer said.
As the director of the film, Schaupp felt the most rewarding part of making the film was the impact it has had on Carver, Olive and Vermillion. For Schaupp, it has been powerful to watch them take the stage at various screenings and hear them tell their stories to audience members.
“This film was never really about us or our team,” Schaupp said. “The whole idea was just to create a window and introduce people's lives, and so to see them become a bit empowered, and feel like they have a platform now to share their story.”
Tiffany Marquez Escobar is the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Editor for The Beacon. She can be reached at marqueze25@up.edu.
